christmas day, part 1

santa's almost empty plate and note

stockings hung by the chimney with care

caroline's gifts...normally gets 3 gifts, but we made an exception for ballerina barbie :)

susanna's gifts...don't make fun, it's not like she knows or cares :)

ready to check out what santa brough!

loving her dollhouse

grammie showing susanna her gifts

happy baby!

susanna reading her new storybook bible...she's gifted :)

showing sis how her toy works

a lap full!!

papa and the girls

she inched her way over and starting tearing into it!

caroline stepped in to help :)

we spent the night with my parents and celebrated christmas morning with the girls there. we made sure santa knew we would not be in charleston :) it was so fun with caroline! she was way into it this year and was pumped when she came to get us in the morning. she even let us sleep until almost 8am...good girl :) she was thrilled santa ate the cookies she left and that he even wrote her a letter back.

christmas day, part 2

mimi, me and caroline

mom, mimi, me and caroline

caroline and papa...two peas in a pod

me and a very tired susanna

caz, cali's dog and caroline...by the way, caz said he didn't want kids until he hung out with caroline :)

brett cole and caroline...too cute!

caroline, dallas, grandmother, susanna

previous crew with me added :)

after opening and playing with presents, we all got ready and headed over to the nursing home to wish my mimi a merry christmas! she was dressed in her christmas sweater ready to visit with us. caroline told her all about her morning and what she got from santa. we then headed north to dalton to have lunch with my grandmother at her house. she's amazing...she had a ton of food ready for us as usual. the woman has more energy than i could ever dream to have. she is so amzing!!! it's always a fun, crazy time with the cole extended family!

fortney christmas

susanna trying out her jumperoo

the little girls blowing out the candles on the happy b'day jesus cake

caroline and bekah

we're going to disney world

caroline showing off her american girl doll

all the girls with their american girl dolls (abby got one, but she prefers woof woof right now)

susanna trying to figure out this present thing

john buried under susanna's presents

we always celebrate with john's side on christmas day night! we had a wonderful dinner and then opened presents for hours. the kids had a blast! susanna didn't make it through everything so we opened all her presents for her. it was such an awesome time together!!

mimi's b'day and precious time with old friends

happy 85th b'day mimi!

beautiful then and now :)

mimi surrounded by her grandkids and great grandkids...only missing ashley and kelli :)

bo busnell, caroline, susanna and david hunter

my mimi turned 85 after christmas and we celebrated with her at the nursing home with a cake, balloons and gifts! she was such a trooper with all the kids, grandkids and great grandkids running around :) my mimi is such a classy lady and is holding together well since we lost my grandbob at the beginning of november. it was a hard holiday without him.

i also got to spend a couple of hours with some of my best girlfriends from high school, kim and garret, and all our kids. love those girls and their boys are precious :)

somebody is ready to go to georgia...

merry christmas and happy new year!!

i could eat them up!!

as i'm packing up some stuff this am...
caroline: (singing) we're going to georgia, we're going to georgia, we're going to georgia....
mommy: yes we are!
caroline: okay mommy, i'm going to spend the night with grandma, then grammie, then kaitlin and then sarah. that sound good, mommy?
mommy: that sounds great!
caroline: we're going to stay for 60 days, okay?
mommy: well, not quite 60 days, but we are going to be there for a while
caroline: i can't wait!!

christmas fun

making white chocolate oreo cookie bark for our neighbors

testing out the white chocolate

daddy got in on the action, too

festival of lights at james island county park

bundled up and ready for some fun

best buds

the fam

i think i've had enought now, mom!

waiting to ride the carousel

loving the carousel

on the way home from lunch today...

caroline: mommy, do you know what a major is?
mommy: (trying to figure out what's she's talking about) a major? i'm not sure.
caroline: (laughing) no, mommy, a manger.
mommy: yes, i know what a manger is.
caroline: good job, mommy. do you know who was born in a manger?
mommy: yes, jesus.
caroline: great job, mommy! (looks so proud of me) do you know who was the mommy?
mommy: mary
caroline: good job, mommy! do you know who was the daddy?
mommy: joseph
caroline: good job! do you know who was the shepherds?
mommy: yes
caroline: what were their names?
mommy: actually, i have no idea.
caroline: (thinks for a minute and makes up crazy names i can't remember or spell)
mommy: wow, they have interesting names.
caroline: mommy, do you know who was the wisemen?
mommy: yes, they came to see jesus.
caroline: their names were caleb, rebekah and sarah. there was one boy wiseman and 2 girl wisemans.
mommy: what a coincidence, just like your cousins.
caroline: do you know the names of the sheep?
mommy: no, but i bet you do!
caroline: fluffy and buddy
mommy: those are great names!
caroline: mommy, jesus is the shepherd and we are his sheep.

on the way to school this morning...

caroline: mommy, why is jesus in my tummy?
mommy: he's not in your tummy, silly!
caroline: he's in my heart.
mommy: that's right, he's in your heart.
caroline: silly mommy, my tummy and heart are in the same place!

quote of the day

eating breakfast this morning together....

caroline: mommy, i have something to tell you
mommy: okay, what?
caroline: i love you to the moon, the sun, the stars, to jesus, my camera and back!
mommy: wow, that's a lot. i love you, too!

the christmas picture

not very much junk in that trunk :)

this is the choke hold pose

they've had enough

we went out to folly this weekend for the first time since susanna was born...our last trip out there was july 4 and 4 days later she arrived. folly is one of our favorite places in the world. we ate at the lost dog (YUMMY) and then walked on the beach. while we were out there we attempted to take some cute pixs of the girls together to possibly use for our christmas card. these are a few of the shots we got :)